In a move which could burn a huge hole in the Kochi Corporation's earnings, the local self-government department (LSGD) secretary has issued an order directing the local body to grant road-cutting sanction to the Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited (RJIL) at a lower rate.

Civic body officials have served a notice to the company seeking floor rent and a penalty, amounting to about Rs 10,12,500 for erecting 20 poles on the city roads to draw overhead optical fibre cables without getting approvals.

After PSU banks, the government is likely to infuse capital in two chronically ill telecom PSUs BSNL and MTNL, and the Union Cabinet is likely to take a decision on 4G spectrum allocation to them by the third week of the current month after DoT places the note before it for consideration.

At a high-level meeting at the PMO late Tuesday, it was also decided that the two telcos will frame a Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS) to reduce their employee strength, which will be followed by a reduction in the retirement age to 58.